Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen is Dead at 65

Allen came up with the name ‘Microsoft’ for the software company

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Paul Allen

Paul AllenMicrosoft’s co-founder Paul Allen has passed away.

Allen, who died from complications from Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer that affects the lymphatic system, had before been treated of the disease twice; in 1982 and 2009. The disease made a return a fortnight ago and was sadly not combatted successfully this time round.

Allen and Bill Gates were friends from Lakeside School and founded Microsoft together back in 1975. It is worth noting that Allen came up with the name ‘Microsoft’ for the software company. He left the company in 1983 after his first stint with cancer.

Ranked as the 44th richest person in the world with a $20.5 billion fortune, Allen funded a lot of projects such as university libraries and brain research centres, among other institutions of science. He has also donated more than $2 billion to charity.

Here are some of the condolence messages sent by tech leaders around the world:

Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer remarked that Allen was a ‘truly inspiring person.’

“We lost a great technology pioneer today,” noted Google CEO Sundar Pichai.

“Our industry has lost a pioneer and our world has lost a force for good,” added Apple CEO Tim Cook.

World’s richest person and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said that ‘His passion for invention and pushing forward inspired so many.’

May he rest well.